By Karine Keyser—
Jamie Foxx belongs to the 3%.
“Less than 3% of people that come in with what you have leave,” the nurse told the comedian after he woke up 20 days after experiencing a stroke. “We usually put them in the box.”
Foxx no longer makes fun of God. His 14-year-old daughter snuck a guitar into his hospital room and sang to him about Jesus. He came out of the coma. She’s “my spiritual defibrillator,” he said.
“I don’t know why I went through what I went through, but I know my second chance I’m not going to turn down,” he said.
Foxx was adopted and raised by his grandparents after he was born. He grew up Baptist at his local church, where he led the choir and played the piano. Later on, he would mention how influential his grandma was in his career.
“My grandmother used to say that I would do great things with great people and inspire a generation,” the actor said. “She filled me up with everything that I needed to be a successful young man.”
While his grandmother taught to fear God, people in the church turned him off from God.
“Those people that went to church and taught us the Bible called me n—-a, right, treated me bad, ran me across the tracks,” he said. “In my mind, I thought, ‘Yo, something is off. Cause if there is a Heaven, I ain’t hanging out with them. So they going to have to separate my Heaven, ’cause I don’t want to be around people that called me these things.’”
In his career, Jamie got into the entertainment industry as a stand-up comedian. He then got a chance to join the sketch comedy “In Living Color,” in its 3rd season. This became his breakthrough in his acting career and helped him to rack up famous roles.
Starring in roles like Electro in “The Amazing Spider-Man 2” and Ray Charles in the movie “Ray,” Jamie Foxx saw his fame skyrocket.
He was a hit. But he was away from God – until the hospital visit and the visit from his daughter brought him back to God.
In his personal story Netflix in 2024 special, “What Had Happened Was…,” Foxx talks about the stroke and how it deepened his relationship with God.
“My vitals were so bad they were going to lose me. And that’s when a miracle happened, and that miracle was working through my youngest daughter. She’s 14 – I didn’t want her to see me like that, but she snuck into my hospital room with my guitar. ‘I know what my daddy needs,’” Foxx explained.
When she started playing the guitar while he was in a coma, his vitals started becoming stable.
Today, Foxx continues to star in films, including his most recent one, Back in Action (2025), with Cameron Diaz.
To not attend a church where offensive words are spoken, he hosts private church gatherings in his home.
